by David Peace
I lick the tip of my pencil. I make a note –
Mrs. Nakahara of Yodobashi Ward and her other daughter stare at the yellow and dark-blue striped pinafore dress, the white half-sleeved chemise, the dyed-pink socks and the white canvas shoes with red rubber soles. They dab their eyes but shake their heads. I ask them to look at the undergarments on the other table. They shake their heads again. I thank them and they leave –
I turn the page. I make another note –
Mrs. Hidari of Ebara Ward and her sister stare at the yellow and dark-blue striped pinafore dress, the white half-sleeved chemise, the dyed-pink socks and the white canvas shoes with red rubber soles and finally, after five minutes, they shake their heads. I ask them to look at the undergarments. They look at each other and then shake their heads. I thank them and they leave –
I lick the tip of my pencil –
Mrs. Mitani of Jōtō Ward has no daughter or sister or neighbour with her today. Mrs. Mitani stands alone before the autopsy table and stares at the yellow and dark-blue striped pinafore dress, the white half-sleeved chemise, the dyed-pink socks and the white canvas shoes with red rubber soles. Mrs. Mitani shakes her head. I ask her to look at the undergarments. Mrs. Mitani shakes her head again. I thank her but she does not move. Mrs. Mitani continues to stare at the undergarments lain out on the dissecting table. I thank her again. She still does not move but asks, ‘What happens now?’
‘We will continue to try to identify these clothes so…’
‘Not about that,’ she says. ‘About my daughter…’
‘I’m sure the Jōtō police are trying to find her…’
‘How can they?’ she asks me. ‘Have you been to Jōtō Ward? There’s nothing left there. The police have nothing. No buildings. No telephones. No bicycles. How can they find her?’
‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I’m really sorry…’
‘She was all I had,’ she says. ‘I have nothing now. No family. No house. No job. No money. Nothing…’
‘I’m sorry,’ I say again. ‘But I promise I will make sure that the description of your daughter is sent to every police station in Tokyo and I hope we will find her…’
Now Mrs. Mitani of Jōtō Ward looks up from the ladies undergarments and the dissecting table. Now Mrs. Mitani wipes her eyes. Mrs. Mitani bows and thanks me –
Now Mrs. Mitani leaves –
I make my final note –
I need a cigarette …
I walk back down the basement corridor past the walls of sinks and drains, the written warnings of cuts and punctures, the orderlies washing and rinsing their hands and their forearms and I push the elevator button and I watch the doors open and I am about to step inside the elevator when Dr. Nakadate catches my arm and asks, ‘Did you find that file, inspector? The Miyazaki file…’
*
I don’t want to remember. In the half-light, I can’t forget…
The cars have gone back to HQ. The streetcar full again –
Kai has a name. Kai has a suspect. Kai will get an address …
I walk back to Sakuradamon, through Moto-Akasaka –
Kai will make an arrest. Kai will get a confession …
By the river, behind the parliament building –
Kai can close the case. Both our cases …
Past the imperial moat to HQ –
Both our cases closed …
Miyazaki Mitsuko forgotten again.
*
I knock on the door of the interview room. I open it. I bow. I take a seat next to the stenographer at the side. Inspector Kai does not look up. Mrs. Midorikawa does not look up; Mrs. Midorikawa sat next to one of her older daughters, twisting and wringing that same piece of cloth in her lap as Inspector Kai confirms again, again and again, the things she has told him during their initial two interviews –
‘So you last saw your daughter on the sixth?’
‘Yes,’ whispers Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Ryuko left the house at about nine on the morning of the sixth of August.’
‘And this is the house in Meguro Ward?’
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘But it’s not our house, it’s the Yamamotos’ house. We’ve been staying with them since our house was pulled down for fire defences at the end of last March.’
‘And Ryuko was living there too?’
‘Yes,’ she says again. ‘Always.’
Now Inspector Kai asks, ‘And so can you tell me again what was she wearing when she left the house in Meguro on the sixth?’
‘A white summer dress and white canvas shoes.’
‘And did she have any money with her?’
‘She would have had about ten yen,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Just for the streetcar or the train fare.’
Inspector Kai turns the page of his notebook. ‘And she told you she was going for a job interview?’
‘Yes,’ agrees Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Ryuko didn’t really like the job she had as a waitress in Ginza.’
‘And this was as a waitress at a café in the fourth cho me?’
‘Yes,’ she agrees again. ‘But there were not many tips.’
‘And the interview for this new job was in Shibaura?’
‘Yes,’ she says again. ‘With the Occupation Army.’
‘And this job interview had all come about through this man called Kodaira?’ asks Inspector Kai. ‘Kodaira Yoshio?’
Mrs. Midorikawa pauses here. Mrs. Midorikawa swallows. Now Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘Through that man, yes.’
‘Please tell me again then, in as much detail as you can, how your daughter Ryuko came to meet this man called Kodaira?’
Mrs. Midorikawa sighs. Mrs. Midorikawa shakes her head. Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘By chance at Shinagawa station.’
‘How was it by chance that Ryuko met this man Kodaira?’ asks Inspector Kai. ‘And what was the date they met?’
Mrs. Midorikawa looks at her other daughter. Mrs. Midorikawa asks her, ‘You said the tenth of July?’
‘Yes,’ says her other daughter. ‘There was an accident at Shinagawa and all the trains were delayed.’
Inspector Kai looks down at his notebook and then asks, ‘And this was when Kodaira approached and spoke to Ryuko?’
‘Yes,’ says the other daughter again. ‘Ryuko told me that he just came up to her on the platform and started talking to her.’
Inspector Kai asks, ‘Do you know what they talked about?’
‘Yes,’ she says. ‘They talked about work and about food.’
‘Ryuko told him she wanted to find a new job,’ adds Mrs. Midorikawa now. ‘And Kodaira said he had connections with the Occupation Army and that he could help her find a job with them.’
‘How exactly did he say he would be able to help Ryuko?’
Mrs. Midorikawa shakes her head. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Through his connections,’ says the other daughter. ‘That’s what Ryuko told me that he said; through his connections …’
‘Did she say what kind of connections?’ asks Kai.
‘He was wearing the Shinchū Gun armband.’
Kai nods. ‘So when did they next meet?’
‘Not until earlier this month,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘Ryuko fell ill with intestinal problems and so she didn’t see Kodaira again until he suddenly turned up at the house asking after her…’
‘So Kodaira knew where Ryuko lived then?’
‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘She must have given him her address that day in July at Shinagawa…’
‘And so when exactly did Kodaira make this visit?’ asks Kai. ‘This visit to the house in Meguro?’
Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘The day before she went missing.’
‘The fifth of August,’ confirms her other daughter.
‘And did you both meet Kodaira?’ asks Kai –
‘Yes,’ they both reply at the same time.
‘So then tell me,’ says Inspector Kai. ‘What is he like?’
They are both silent for a moment until Mrs. Midorikawa first si
ghs and then says, ‘He seemed like a gentleman. He brought us a small gift. He said he was concerned about Ryuko’s health. He told us he was working as a cook with the Occupation Army. He thought he could help Ryuko find work at the same barracks.’
‘Can you remember which barracks these were?’ asks Kai.
‘Number 589,’ says the other daughter. ‘In Shinagawa.’
Kai looks up from his notes. ‘And you believed him?’
‘Of course I believed him,’ spits Mrs. Midorikawa, suddenly. ‘Do you really think I would have let my daughter go off to meet him, if I didn’t believe him? If I didn’t trust him?’
Inspector Kai looks back down at his notebook. Inspector Kai shakes his head and now says, ‘I am very sorry. I…’
‘There are six of us in our family,’ she says. ‘And no man.’
Inspector Kai bows his head and says again, ‘I am sorry.’
‘He promised her a good job,’ she says. ‘Free food.’
Inspector Kai just nods and stares at his notebook.
‘He was wearing the Shinchū Gun armband.’
I cough now. I edge forward on my seat. I bow and then ask, ‘And so Ryuko went to meet him on the sixth of August?’
‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘They had arranged to meet at ten o’clock at the east gate of Shinagawa station.’
‘Ten o’clock in the morning?’ I ask –
‘Of course,’ she says. ‘Of course.’
‘And so when Ryuko didn’t come home, what did you do?’
‘I waited until the next morning,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘And then, first thing, I went straight to see Kodaira.’
‘You went to see him at his home?’ I ask. ‘Where is it?’
‘In Hanezawamachi,’ she replies. ‘In Shibuya Ward.’
‘And what did he say when you went to see him?’
‘He lied to me,’ spits Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘He said Ryuko had never turned up to meet him at Shinagawa station.’
‘Let me just check this,’ I say. ‘When you went to see Kodaira in Shibuya it was the seventh of August?’
‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa.
‘And you went to see him because Ryuko hadn’t come home the night before?’
‘Yes.’
‘But Kodaira told you Ryuko had not shown up to meet him at Shinagawa station at ten o’clock on the morning before?’
‘Yes,’ says Mrs. Midorikawa. ‘He lied to me.’
‘They all lie,’ says her other daughter.
Now I take out an envelope from my jacket pocket. I open the envelope. I take out the piece of newspaper found in the pocket of the skirt of the pinafore dress on my body. Now I place the newspaper advertisement on the table before Mrs. Midorikawa –
I ask, ‘Does this mean anything to you?’
Mrs. Midorikawa looks down at the newspaper advertisement. Mrs. Midorikawa pushes it away. Mrs. Midorikawa looks up at me. Mrs. Midorikawa says, ‘My daughter was not a whore.’
*
Inspector Kai and Room #1 have been busy. Room #1 have an address for Kodaira Yoshio. Inspector Kai and Room #1 have sent two men to the address in Hanezawamachi, Shibuya Ward. Room #1 have stationed two pairs of detectives near the address –
No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape …
‘It is Kodaira’s sister’s house,’ Inspector Kai is telling us. ‘His younger sister’s house. He lives there with his wife and son…’
Chief Kita knows Kai wants to bring Kodaira in now –
No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape …
The chief asks, ‘What about his place of work?’
‘It is Laundry Barracks #589,’ says Inspector Kai. ‘Just as he told the mother, but he’s not a cook. He’s been working in the laundry since March this year. In Shinagawa, on the ocean side…’
Now Adachi glances up from his notes. Adachi looks at me –
‘And we’ve both seen this before, detective. Remember?’
The chief asks, ‘What shifts does he work at the laundry?’
‘He’s been working on nights this month,’ replies Kai.
Adachi still looking at me. Adachi still watching my face –
‘Did you find that file, inspector? The Miyazaki file…’
The chief asks, ‘Do we have his family’s address?’
‘Nikkō, Tochigi Prefecture,’ says Inspector Kai –
No escape. No escape. No escape. No escape …
The chief says, ‘Arrest him tomorrow at noon.’
No escape. In the half-light, no escape at all.
*
I take a different route back to Atago, through Hibiya Park and out onto Hibiya-dōri. The branches of the trees hang low in the hot and overcast light, the leaves on the branches covered in dirt and dust. There were statues in this park before the war turned against us, when there were heroes to celebrate and metal to spare. There were fountains too, when there were hours to play and water to spare. Restaurants and tea-houses, flower exhibitions and symphony concerts, tennis courts and a baseball ground, before they converted it into vegetable gardens and anti-aircraft batteries –
Ton-ton. Ton-ton. Ton-ton …
I queue for a streetcar at Uchisaiwai-chō, just down the road from the Imperial Hotel; the Imperial Hotel where there are still heroes to celebrate and metal to spare, hours to play and water to spare. The old woman queuing next to me is bent double with the weight of the box tied to her back. The old woman telling the queue the story of a small boy in Hongō who waited and waited for his chocolate ration to come and was so excited when the chocolate finally came that he could not take his eyes off the chocolate, that he did not look up from the chocolate, that he did not see the streetcar coming. The queue for our streetcar says nothing. The queue just stands and waits, watching for a streetcar that never comes, listening to the hammering that never ceases –
Ton-ton. Ton-ton …
*
I am back in the toilets of Atago police station. I have vomited again. Black bile again. I stand over the sink. I spit. I wipe my mouth. I turn on the tap. I wash my face. Now I look up into that mirror again –
I don’t want to remember. I don’t want to remember …
Ishida is waiting for me beside our banner –
‘Did you find Hayashi Jo?’ I ask him –
‘No,’ says Ishida. ‘He’s resigned.’
‘When did Hayashi resign?’
‘Late yesterday evening.’
‘Where is he now?’
‘No one knows.’
‘Good work,’ I tell him. ‘Dismissed.’
I wait until Ishida has stepped into our borrowed office and then I run back to the toilets. I vomit again. Brown bile. I walk over to the sink. I spit again. I wipe my mouth. I turn on the tap. I wash my face again. Now I stare into that mirror –
I don’t want to remember …
No Hayashi. No Fujita –
You can tell which are the men from Room #1 and which are the men from Room #2 by the looks on their faces. No Fujita. The anticipation on the faces of Room #1, the resignation on the faces of Room #2. No Fujita. Room #1 have a name for their suspect. No Fujita. Room #2 still have no name for their victim. No Fujita. Detectives Hattori, Takeda, Sanada and Shimoda are sat at the very back of the room. No Fujita. Detectives Nishi, Kimura and Ishida sat at the front. No Fujita. None of the men from the Second Team are smiling in anticipation of an arrest as they listen to Inspector Kai –
‘But the mother and sisters had already identified her haramaki by its five darned holes and given us details of the whitlow scar on her left thumb, so she was then formally identified by her mother as Midorikawa Ryuko, aged seventeen of Meguro Ward…’
Inspector Kai updating Room #1 and Room #2 about the identification of the body, about the life of the victim, about the name of the suspect and the plan for his arrest at noon tomorrow. The uniforms from Atago, Meguro and Mita have not been invited this evening. This meeting is just for detective
s; detectives only –
‘And our two teams of detectives in Shibuya have just reported that the suspect left for his shift as usual at 5:30 p.m. tonight and then arrived at the laundry before 6 p.m….’
I am stood next to Inspector Kai at the front of the room beside Inspectors Kanehara and Adachi –
I am cursing Inspector Kai…
‘Naturally the detectives from Room #2 will also be able to question the suspect Kodaira about the second body found at Shiba Park and to which we hope he will also provide an identity and a confession and thus spare the blushes of Room #2 again…’
There is laughter from one half of the room –
There is resentment from the other half –
‘I’m just joking,’ laughs Kai. ‘We’re all comrades now.’
There is more laughter and more jeering, fists on desktops and boots on floorboards, backs slapped and hair ruffled –
In anticipation, in excitement –
‘Attention!’ shouts Kai –
Their fists by their sides, their boots together now …
‘Bow!’ he shouts –
Backs straight and hair flat…
‘Dismissed!’
They file out…
And I run out of the meeting room and down the stairs to vomit in the toilets. I vomit in the toilets of Atago police station a third time. Yellow bile. I spit. I turn on the tap again. I wash my face. I look up into that mirror again. I stare into that mirror –
I can’t forget. In the half-light, I can’t forget…
Adachi is waiting for me outside the toilets –
‘We’ve both seen this before, detective…’
Adachi grabs my arm. ‘Where’s Fujita?’
‘Did you find that file, inspector?’
‘I sent him to the Salon Matsu in Kanda,’ I lie but I don’t ask him why; why Adachi wants Fujita. I don’t ask him why because I turn back into the toilets. Back to vomit. Grey bile. Back to the sink. Back to the tap. Back to the mirror –
In the half-light …
Adachi is gone but Nishi and Kimura are waiting for me in the corridor. They are hot and they are dirty. They know I have forgotten about them. They are tired and they are angry –
‘There are no records of a Takahashi of Zōshigaya,’ says Nishi. ‘Because there are no records of anyone because all their records were lost when their ward office burnt down…’